Rachel Riley now reported to have got PTSD from Strictly too

[chachacharcoal]

Both the Daily Mail and the Mirror are now reporting that Rachel Riley also claims to have developed PTSD after doing Strictly. She went on to marry her partner though so he doesn't seem to have been the problem. One of the articles is also claiming she says that many of the other former contestants she's spoken to since doing the show have shared similar experiences. I was surprised by some of the vitriol Amanda Abington got for saying similar but I do realise most people have a fairly basic understanding of trauma. Anyone else very interested in this story?

Faye Tozer is also being reported to have had a negative experience with Giovanni. But the word trauma hasn't been used in that story as far as I'm aware.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13262881/Rachel-riley-strictly-come-dancing-ptsd-amanda-abbington-exit.html

https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/rachel-riley-reveals-bbc-strictly-32493863

Bullshit 💩 she is suffering from PSTD from doing her tv stint,

i could totally understand if she was a tv journalist doing a stint in a war zone conflict or
doing journalist uncover work on extremely disturbing topic subject nature ..

Sorry you seem to replying to something I didn't write. Nowhere did I dismiss. In fact i did the opposite! I'm saying people should talk about distress and ask for help without feeling the need to medicalise. To recognise that life is hard and brutal and we we all need support. It is a human experience and we can all do better.

HOWEVER the medical term of trauma was originally developed to describe events so outside what normal people should experience that it needs a separate name and descriptors. You are saying that trauma is effectively widespread and therefore normal which I was trying to maybe clumsily point out was not the original intention of the term trauma.

Although you will note that I have healthy scepticism regarding psychiatric diagnoses so maybe we should just drop them all together and listen to people's individual experiences and validate them.

If you look at the history of MH understanding, people used to deny any of it, then it was accepted in extreme cases, now we understand it affects people in many situations, and we are also developing greater understanding of how historic experiences (e.g. child abuse) can affect adults later in life too.

So a soldier who was witness to a series of extreme incidents including being badly injured themselves could have a diagnosis of 'PTSD', and someone who was bullied at work for a year could also have a diagnosis of 'PTSD' - just like anything else there is a spectrum.

We don't expect people to have exactly the same severity of 'hypertension' or 'angina' - we accept variety in physical health conditions.

The issue is people have always denied psychological/mental health impacts - where the line is drawn is down to levels of compassion as much as science, because the impact on a patient can't be measured on a machine.

How insulting to claim she has PTSD from appearing in a dance programme!

She could have left at any time.

These awful snowflake types are pathetic .

Honestly people are using PTSD to describe things that were hard work! Try having been brought up in a war zone like my friends, try being in the military, try being a first responder here in the UK... using ptsd so flippantly, and actually using other mental health issues too, definitely makes those with real problems get less sympathy

The thing is i have the same feeling/attitude about the slebs complaining about SCD as i do with people marrying into the royal family in the 21st century and being astounded it is stiffly formal and quite horrible intrusion from the press.

So for the latter, much more sympathy for Diana (although limited) than Meghan (somewhat sympathetic but not much because EVERYONE knew what happened to her late MIL)

Same with SCD. Early on - i could forgive people going on it and not realising how much work would have to be done if you wanted to do well. Anne Widdecombe, Ed Balls, Jerry Hall etc - right attitude for someone who wants a bit of publicity, a nice paycheque and to have a bit of fun. But now after, what? 20 years? and so many celebs saying that it was tough, traumatic and they barely had time to eat, let alone see their family? That has been A Thing for at least the last 10 years i think. But again, it's also down to my perception of the celeb. So i have no time for RR so i have extremely limited sympathy anyway, and she just got married and went into this? Tough, love. You should have been paying attention/done your homework. I have more sympathy for her ex.

Sophie Ellis Bextor? I've seen her on a few shows and she comes across as a a down-to-earth person who knows how much of her private life to offer up, but doesn't cross that border. She always gives the impression that her family is the most important thing, as does her husband. I hadn't read that piece before. Blimey, SCD is tough.

When it comes to these reality TV shows, I would not doubt that some of the vulnerable people they put in BGT for example, or Love Island etc may be traumatised, because they seem to choose people who are not mentally stable for the sake of TV but celebrities who have been in the industry for years, are used to public scrutiny and being on TV and are, in most cases, doing it to revive their career? I find it hard to believe they aren't using their 'Strictly trauma' to get their faces in the (BBC hating) press for the most part.

I didn't mean you specifically were dismissing it, I meant it shouldn't be dismissed because it is common.

I'm saying people should talk about distress and ask for help without feeling the need to medicalise. To recognise that life is hard and brutal and we we all need support. I agree with this.

'trauma' and 'Trauma' are perhaps hard to differentiate between - and in the end does it matter?

I see people all the time (as on this thread) dismissing someone's clear 'trauma' because it doesn't reach an arbitrary bar fo awfulness they think warrants the label 'Trauma'. My view is both 'trauma' and 'Trauma' could result in a diagnosis of PTSD.

There are some soldiers who go through multiple wars without suffering from PTSD. It is not an exact formula of x amount of trauma = PTSD.

I know what I imagine when I hear PTSD and being in a dancing competition isn't it

@BoredZelda I was clinically diagnosed with PTSD in 2014 so when you say they know better than me. I beg to differ

The way in which we immediately dismiss any woman's experience is disgraceful and wilfully ignorant. Have we not learned anything?

I think Rachel Riley loves attention.

Your post backs up my assertion that the meaning of these labels are constantly shifting and open to interpretation that can be wholly subjective in many cases.and influenced by new understanding or simply the current zeitgeist.

This doesn't alter the fact that people who have suffered trauma in the original sense of the word often have a wholly different presentation and are left even more marginalised and isolated by their experiences when PTSD is expanded to include every distressing experience. A bit like those with severe mental health conditions who by dint of the severity are left out of the social media trend on mental health.

yes, I do wonder a bit when slebs say "oh its done wonders for my confidence"

Haha! These celebs obviously thought dancing was just about putting on pretty dresses and prancing around. Dancers are extremely tough - mentally and physically. Dancing takes immense discipline and the competitiveness of those professionals must be very high. In the old days serious dance teachers used to come across as monsters in the way they spoke to their students. It would never be countenanced now, of course.

What has being Jewish got to do with it?

Aside from the debate about what is and isn't PTSD, there is definitely a dark side to SCD.

It wrecks relationships, basically, and the programme loves that..couples getting together in real life.

It must be miserable as a partner , watching your loved one spend hours and hours in intense , passionate dances with a trained, good looking professional.

There is the physicality of all, hands all over each other..then the metal 'high' of being taught a skill and performing it. It's a relationship like no other.

I am sure that the previous Mrs Ben Cohen never dreamed she'd be left bringing new babies up on her own when he entered the competition.

I think of Stacey Dooleys long term partner as well, watching the inevitability of her getting together with Kevin Clifton, and him powerless to do anything about it.

So many destroyed relationships - I guess some of them might have been on the rocks anyway, but the way the show and the public revels in it - it's almost as if it's as much about that as the dancing.

'Trauma', PTSD, among the most abused words in the language, what happened to being 'a bit pissed off' or 'a bit upset', they all seem to go for the ultimate immediately.

I think what annoyed me about the whole AA thing was that she didn't just say "I found it too mentally/physically/emotionally draining" it had to be turned into an attack on Giovanni.

The pro dancers HAVE to push their celebrities if they want to keep getting partners, this is their livelihood, like Gio said, the money he earns supports not only him, but family in Italy, if he doesn't push his celebs, and he doesn't do well, and he doesn't keep himself and his partners in the competition, it'll jeopardise that income. Of course they're going to be brutal in pushing hard training to get the celebs there.

All the year this has been on, i can't fathom people who go on there and then moan its stressful. It's not a jolly, its a competition that the pro dancers take seriously.

Sorry to all of you who have been through the mill.
I know that the DSM indicates that a stressful event is not the same as a traumatic event.
Divorce is stressful and can lead to traumatic responses in children but viewed more as a loss in adults.
It isn't for me to judge others' experiences though. We all react to things differently and much as though I'm a stan, the invasion of privacy/intrusion/online commentary would cost more than the experience gave.

I think, as with everything in life (from trans issues to ASC diagnoses to trauma responses) it's never a "one size fits all" situation and it shouldn't be a competition to the bottom. When you broaden definitions, it makes it trickier for everyone under that umbrella to relate. When you have a majority identifying as neurodivergent or having mental health issues, it becomes competitive, dismissive and divisive as to who fits the criteria more/warrants a diagnosis.

I cannot abide the "snowflake generation" argument as it doesn't take into account societal and cultural changes, whereby what was once swept under the carpet is now spoken about. Nor does it actually help those who, for whatever reason, feel like shit. I'm not going to judge someone else just because I've been through worse. (Well, I might in secret Matt Haig but I know it's unkind, unnecessary and brings me nothing). Desiderata: If you compare yourself with others, you may become bitter.

I don't know Rachel Riley but she was talking about this three years ago, so it's not exactly jumping on Amanda's bandwagon. Laura spoke about it too in 2018 and 2020 and the experience sounded bloody awful, whether you signed up for it or not.

In the end I felt broken. I cried every day. And I really was broken, both mentally and physically, by the end. To the outside world I tried to suck it up and smile, and I did that to the best of my ability, but it affected me deeply. My friends and family knew that I was struggling. And they were there for me. The media, however, saw me as blonde bait in a sequinned dress.

Laura didn't sign up for 24 hour paparazzi surveillance (she was hassled at her front door/being followed all the time and rang the police who said there was nothing they could do). I know it's a big show now (so you'd expect to be papped outside) but being told by a pap, she'd signed up to Strictly so they could hassle her even when she was at home by herself is too much.

Then of course there was Will Young (who'd already had mental health issues) and dropped out early. The slating and outrage that followed his withdrawal from the show was insane.

I think the reason trauma and PTSD are diagnosed more often is better understanding of how people respond to stress.

Sustained low level stress can be as severely damaging as a one off out of the blue incident.

I remember being told that some rapes were worse than others, as though being raped while asleep in your own bed by your husband was better than being raped by a violent stranger.

It’s not top trumps. People can be debilitated by different things. Some people’s response is primarily physical. Other’s is psychological or emotional. People have different tolerances, different tools, and different thresholds.

It’s awful to minimise other people’s distress.

Does anyone remember ’nervous breakdowns’? They don’t seem to be talked about now, the language has moved on.

Some situations leave you unwell and damaged.

And as for, ‘they can leave whenever they like’, I’d say the experiences of those who did suggest otherwise. The pressure from your partner, the Beeb and the public must be phenomenal.

As someone who has always hated the limelight I must admit I start to feel anxious while watching SCD, and have to constantly remind myself that it's not like jury service - as a fat, middle-aged nonentity I'm not going to suddenly get a letter saying I'm legally obliged to don a skimpy sequined outfit and dance the tango with Kevin from Grimsby in front of 30 million people. So if I can recognise how stressful it would be, surely those who are used to being in the limelight would understand what it involved and be able to make a reasonable decision (informed by the experience of previous contestants) of what they are prepared to give up for the fame, career advancement and money it offers?

I think it must be fairly traumatic dancing live to millions, but she knew what she was doing. You would need to be incredibly mentally strong to be able to cope with it. After show counselling sounds like a good idea & selecting only those who would be resilient.

I have ptsd, it’s horrific. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I didn’t get it from dancing on strictly though-if only!

The criteria for actual clinical PTSD are quite hard to meet, in that it really has to be messing your life up. It's a long way past simply "I still have nightmares".

Here's the list. You have to meet all of the lettered criteria, A through H. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207191/box/part1_ch3.box16/

It sounds in this post like you draw a more rigid line between 'proper' trauma (trauma in the original sense) vs fake trauma. I just see it as a spectrum.

A definition being influenced by new understanding is progress, it doesn't take anything from those who suffer from what you define as 'trauma in the original sense'.

We expanded the definition of rape to include that within marriage, we've expanded the definition of assault to include clipping kids round the ear.

I think we (society) are just recognising that more things correctly fall under the trauma umbrella.